According to standards, healthy tap water flows through 35,000 kilometres of outdated asbestos pipes, this despite the ban on the use of asbestos since 1993 because, among other things, it is carcinogenic. Replacing these pipes would require more than EUR 200 billion. The drinking water companies are silent on this, meanwhile water flows uninterrupted from the tap. "In the Netherlands, clean and tasty drinking water comes out of the tap. We owe that to drinking water companies. They make the water clean and reliable. That happens in a number of steps."
That is the cynical slogan of drinking water utilities.
Source Article by Rob Vellekoop, 21 September 2016
No less than 1,156 million cubic metres of tap water are produced every year. To transport all this tap water, there are 120,000 kilometres of water pipes in the Netherlands. Per adult, we use an average of 121 litres of drinking water per day and drink almost 2 litres.
At one time, there were nearly 200 water companies in the Netherlands. Many municipalities had their own waterworks. Now there are 10 big ones left. They supply tap water to the people in their region. For example, WML in Limburg, Dunea in South Holland and Vitens as the largest drinking water company in Friesland, Overijssel, Gelderland and Flevoland.
Tap water pipes
Since 1853, we have had a pipe network in the Netherlands. Before that, water came from wells and springs. In Amsterdam, the first pipeline network was built using water from the dunes. Amsterdam's beer brewers benefited from this, so they pulled the cart. In the 1920s, the water supply network expanded and half a century later almost everyone was connected.
Materials for tap water pipes
For the large diameters (transport), they are concrete, cast iron, steel, asbestos cement, GRE, PVC (PolyVinylChloride) and PE (PolyEtylene). The distribution pipes are cast iron, steel, asbestos cement, PVC,PE, GRE and SLA pipe. In contaminated soil and in cemeteries, SLA is used, which is an expensive PE pipe with an aluminium core so that toxins cannot enter the drinking water.
The service pipes that are the pipes that branch off from the distribution pipe in the street to the house can be of lead, steel, copper, PVC, PE and SLA pipe. The lead service pipes are generally already remediated as lead also causes health problems. From 1880 to about 1955, everything was made of cast iron, lead and copper. From 1955 to 1970, asbestos cement was used and from 1970 to the present, steel, PVC, PE, and sporadically in case of contaminated soil, SLA or ductile iron (high-quality cast iron).
Asbestos tap water pipes
Asbestos drinking water pipes (also known as asbestos cement) are subject to wear and tear and leaching. The type of soil in which they are located also affects their lifespan. The average asbestos pipe is 60 years old and leaks are commonplace. They are depreciated and should have been replaced years ago.
A layer of lime initially adheres to the pipes, slowing down the wear process. However, leaching reduces the adhesion of cement and asbestos, allowing asbestos fibres to enter the drinking water. Water hammer (sudden bursts of pressure) and the draining of these old pipes also releases a lot of asbestos. 120,000 nano fibres per litre of drinking water has already been measured.
Only water companies in Flanders, Zeeland and Drenthe are cleaning up asbestos. About 35,000 kilometres of asbestos pipe are still in operation. Remediation costs come to 250 to 500 euros per metre, depending on the situation. In total, it could cost around 250 billion euros, hence the much-needed clean-up.
The rehabilitation is then hampered by the fact that the other utilities, such as cable companies, have laid their cables above the drinking water pipeline to be replaced, making it inaccessible. This creates a huge additional cost.
The best material for water pipes is cast iron or steel. It is much safer and equally expensive from 300mm onwards. Only the laying is more expensive because of the weight and lengths of the pipe. The water coming out of your tap has usually passed through many kilometres of pipe which means it has passed through numerous different pipes of various materials.
Healthy tap water and Asbestos
The World Health Organisation stated in a 1993 drinking water quality guideline that there was no convincing evidence that ingesting asbestos was dangerous. The RIVM also said that only airborne asbestos fibres could be harmful.
However, airborne exposure to asbestos can cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis, according to experts. Therefore, the use of asbestos has been banned in the Netherlands since 1993.
It is of course strange that asbestos inhaled through the air poses a health risk, but ingesting it through drinking water would not pose any danger.
Jyotisha
Types of possible tap water contamination
- Lead and copper from household piping can cause diseases.
- Asbestos fibre from old main drinking water pipes is considered carcinogenic.
- Pesticides and phosphates enter groundwater from agriculture and via wastewater.
- Substances from billions of drugs from discarded packaging and through urine and faeces entering surface water via the toilet a serious problem (cholesterol reducers, painkillers, beta blockers, hormones, female sex hormones from the anti-baby pill and the like)
- Bacteria and viruses may be killed by chlorination or irradiation with ultraviolet light, but they remain in the drinking water. Only distillation or reverse osmosis can prevent us from drinking them.
- Surface active agents (tensides) enter water from paint and detergents.
- Besides chlorine, trihalomethane often ends up in drinking water. These can form as reaction products due to chlorination.
It is noteworthy that the water companies control their own product, in other words, the butcher inspects his own meat! Nevertheless, the water companies are having an increasingly difficult time due to increasing pollution of the environment and are trying hard to get drinking water as good as possible for everyone in terms of quality.
Jyotisha naturopath
If just a single gramme of the many pollutants, which we take in every day, is deposited in our bodies, then after one year it is already more than 350 grams - in 10 years more than 3.5 kilograms - and after 20 years more than 7 kilograms.
Take matters into your own hands for healthy tap water
The content of these 2 articles indicates that our tap water is transported through asbestos water pipes and that work on this pipe network is not without dangers for workers. What is the real state of public health? Buy equipment and improve your own drinking water quality and drink Pure Naturally Filtered Oxygenated Water. Alpha has a filter that comes standard in both models, which also - according to Alpha's engineer - stops the very small asbestos particles. It is a patented ultra fine water filter for home for nanoplastics and nano asbestos particles.
I explicitly checked this. Also received the specifications of both filters. These can be requested. Visit our water ioniser shop for more info or book a free online consultation. Of course, you can also call on 023-7852710.
So this way you are guaranteed to get pure healthy tap water!
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